Birmingham has fourth-lowest foreclosure rate

New data shows Birmingham had the fourth lowest foreclosure rate of any major metropolitan area in the country in the first quarter of this year.

RealtyTrac, a nationwide tracker of foreclosures, reported that the Birmingham/Hoover metro area had a total of 386 properties in some form of foreclosure last quarter, or one for every 1,187 households.

That's a drop of nearly 49 percent over first quarter 2007 and more than 24 percent over fourth quarter 2007.

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Alabama ranked 43rd in the nation for its foreclosure rate, reporting a total of 1,700 properties in foreclosure - a more than 8 percent increase over first quarter last year and a fraction of a percent over the previous quarter.

Nationwide, a total of 649,917 properties in foreclosure were reported, which is a nearly 112 percent increase over the same time period last year and more than 23 percent over fourth quarter 2007.

"Foreclosure activity in the first quarter increased on a year-over-year basis in 46 out of the 50 states and in 90 of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, demonstrating that most regions of the country are seeing more foreclosures," said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

"In some areas there are also some unusual, nonmarket factors impacting the foreclosure numbers. For example, the city of Philadelphia in late March issued a temporary moratorium on all foreclosure auctions for April, and the city has since adopted a program that will delay foreclosure proceedings on owner-occupied properties until the owners have met face-to-face with lenders to attempt a loan workout plan that would prevent foreclosure."

Saccacio applauded the efforts of cities like Philadelphia, but said it may be deferring another flood of foreclosures and extending the market's recovery time.

Only three other major cities had lower foreclosure rates than Birmingham - Allentown, Pa., Honolulu, Hawaii, and Scranton, Pa., respectively.

Five Florida cities were listed in the top 25 for highest foreclosure rates, as were Atlanta and Memphis. Ten California cities also were listed in the top 25.

The other states leading the way ahead of Alabama in low foreclosure rates included Vermont, North Dakota, West Virginia, South Dakota, Mississippi, Wyoming and Hawaii, respectively.